U.S. News & World Report releases its list of the best online graduate nursing programs

U.S. News & World Report recently released the 2014 Best Online Programs. The rankings, in their third year, are a resource for students seeking online education programs for degree completion and career advancement.

The 2014 U.S. News Best Online Programs include online bachelor’s degrees and online master’s degrees in nursing, engineering, business, education, and computer information technology, as well as information on the costs of an online degree.

“Online education is becoming a popular option for both students completing an undergraduate degree and working adults seeking career advancement,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer for U.S. News, in a news release. “Much like we’ve done with traditional brick-and-mortar colleges, we’re collecting and analyzing data to help students identify programs that support their education and career goals.”

This year, U.S. News changed the methodologies significantly to incorporate additional data; further enhance its analytically rigorous approach; and better reflect retention rates, graduation rates and required time to graduate. For the first time, all six rankings include peer-review data based on schools’ evaluations of each other.

These changes are the primary factors behind why many of the schools moved up and down in the rankings, according to the release.

In the online graduate nursing category, St. Xavier University in Chicago was ranked No. 1, while Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., was ranked No. 2 and University of Massachusetts—​Amherst No. 3. George Washington University in Washington, D.C., was ranked No. 4; East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., was ranked No. 5; and the No. 6 spot was shared by Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa., Loyola University New Orleans, University of Alabama—​Huntsville, and University of Texas Medical Branch—​Galveston.

To see what else is trending in advanced education, visit Nurse.com/Advanced-Education